


roses are red

by benibara



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, past watarei/current wataei, reflections on the past and a lot of flower language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 11:57:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19829722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benibara/pseuds/benibara
Summary: i sit before flowers, hoping they will train me in the art of opening up.





	roses are red

The night sky hangs above; all murky gray clouds and specks of twinkling stars across a sea of deep blue; graced with a cool breeze, so light and barely there, ghosting skin and urging leaves to dance to their own song. Fine china cups softly clink as they come to rest upon their equally fine plate counterparts — there, enclosed within a garden of blooming roses, two young men sit, picturesque and still, as if part of an exhibit in a museum.

Left only to admire and wonder about; vestiges of what once was, and all could be.

Neither speaks, yet neither leaves. Merely sitting, occasionally drinking, sinking into mutual silence. The moon takes its journey, whole and bright in its kingdom of the dark — almost as if mocking Rei. It follows him wherever he goes, haunting him like a ghost of his own soul. When it finally turns around in the coming days, hides itself from view and refuses to follow and give light to others, perhaps he'll rest, trapped where no light reaches, slumbering away until that ghost returns to its lifeless body.

It's all over now. Trumpets of victory sang with the voices of angels to the masses crying out with their joy. Evil is defeated, justice wrought; a new era dawning. The sun rises to its rightful throne, an Emperor to a world of people who would always choose day over night.

And yet the sun is but a dying star, eclipsing the moon in its glory for only so long. Fall too, it shall soon, but the moon — the moon stays. Somehow. Always.

In the garden, the roses are blooming. They spread their petals out like arms, welcoming and warm in their red hues. Together, as one, they breathe in the air and invite your gaze, yearn for your touch. But thorns defend them, spreading out like guards watching over their king. Like a heart, their bodies can be broken all too easily. So when someone comes close, they peek and prick at their fingertips, their palms; dyeing them in their hue. The same, the very same.

Bold and vibrant, guarded yet whispering:  _ Come closer, dare to. Hold me, take me with you. _ But that someone draws back in fear, cradling wounded hands — the roses live another day still, and that someone shrinks away.

To prettier flowers, safer flowers. Poppies and daisies, even. And the roses cry, raindrops gliding down to hit the dirt, urging them to live on in solitude despite everything.

Wataru rises from his seat. Forget-me-not in all its glory, disappearing into the garden, into the world; searching for a better garden to bloom within, without the roses. Rei says nothing, not a single word, they say goodbye with their eyes. Silence remains unbroken; the roses open, but not enough. Rei longs to be plucked into those hands, cut free of the gates blocking the way to him, to be adorned in one beautiful vase; like filling an empty heart.

But, though not too far from the roses, the forget-me-nots mingle with those poppies, those daisies. Growing better, blooming brighter, under the brilliant, blue, endless sky of the sun's. As if belonging together, too, with the pink tulips and purple irises. It's better there, sunnier there.

The illusion of that night so long ago fades away. The afternoon sun showers its warmth from a sky of vivid blue like a clear sea, fluffy white clouds mingling and passing through its rays. It shines down upon the garden, still full of roses.

Blue now. Somehow blue. Somehow blooming, somehow cradled in hands ever so lovingly, thorns or none. Open, alive. Impossible. They shouldn't exist, shouldn't be alive, yet they snuggle closely to the forget-me-nots, together opening beside each other, almost cuddling. Denying fate, denying nature, mixing roots.

It isn't silent today. Laughter floats in the air, two voices chattering away under an ornate gazebo in the center of that garden. They drink tea, they snack away, they spread their petals wide in perfect, open view of each other.

"You know, Wataru, I…"

Red roses are long gone. Having fallen from the grace of their bushes, shriveling to nothing. They grow in the wild now, fighting to survive, fighting to establish roots, fighting to be picked.

Still fighting to bloom, just for you.

**Author's Note:**

> well!!!!!! i have not written in a long time LOL sorry for that (": i got swept up in a lot of family business last year... so i couldn't finish 25 days (sorry!!! maybe this year!!!) and then i couldn't write anything at all that i felt confident enough to post here. but i have a lot of watarei and wataei sitting in my drive, so hopefully i can edit them up enough to post them!! in the meantime, i'm also working on something obviously related to enstars with a friend to post! but for now, here is this that i've had in my wip for like... 3 or so months;; i really like flower language so i went with that! sorry it's so short ):
> 
> flower meanings and what flowers allude to who:  
> \- forget-me-nots: remembrance, true love. i used these for wataru!  
> \- red roses: romance, being in love. i used these for rei!  
> \- blue roses: impossible, mesmerizing. i used these for eichi!  
> \- poppies: they're often a symbol of passing/death. they can also mean peace, eternity, and resurrection, as well as rejoice and love. i used these based on their meaning for eichi, as well.  
> \- daisies: they mean innocence, new beginnings, and purity, but i used them based on the phrase "pushing up daisies" for eichi, lol.  
> \- pink tulips: caring and attachment (more platonic than the color red would give). i used these to symbolize tori.  
> \- purple irises: faith, wisdom, etc. loyalty too! i used these to symbolize yuzuru.
> 
> that's it! thank you for reading!! w
> 
> edit: also i could not find a place to fit it well but i wanted to allude to the fact wataru always carries roses on him. but, you know, run with that too if you will


End file.
